Harm claim thresholds for satellite earth stations

I'm reasonably confident at this point about deriving harm claim thresholds for cellular neighbors and TV receivers (see e.g. the TPRC 2012 paper http://ssrn.com/abstract=2018080). Here's a first cut (a few months old, but I'm behind on blogging...) at thresholds for satellite earth stations.

TV/cellular guard bands - second thoughts

In a recent post ("The FCC's TV/cellular guard bands don't compute") I wondered whether the guard bands between TV and cellular service that the FCC proposed in its Incentive Auction NPRM (pdf) had been designed to make room for more unlicensed in the TV bands. Having spoken to some experts, I’ve concluded that I was probably wrong about that: my new best guess is that they’re a benefit for the cellular industry.

800 MHz receiver criteria as harm claim thresholds

Bob Pavlak at the FCC prompted me to read the 800 MHz “unacceptable interference” rules in the context of an interference limits approach (root post).

The 2004 Report & Order (pdf) introduced the concept of unacceptable interference, “a term of art adopted for the limited purposes of this proceeding … that defines a bright-line test for interference protection that takes into account, among other factors, the strength of the desired signal and the characteristics of the receiver being employed” (Report & Order, footnote 8). While this sounds like a receiver performance requirement, I think it actually amounts to an interference limit or harm claim threshold. In fact, if it is reformulated as a harm claim threshold, it becomes more powerful because it does not enshrine a particular set of receiver performance parameters in the rules, leaving manufacturers and system operator with more flexibility.